A team bonding session off the court made quite a difference for the Boilers Juniors 15 Elite Gold volleyball team.
“We went into an office at our facility, and we did some team bonding and worked mentally with each other instead of on the court,” team member Avery Carroll said. “That helped a lot. We started to get more comfortable with each other and it got better.”
Carroll helped the Boiler Juniors 15 Gold team finish fifth in the 15 open division among 59 teams at the AAU National Volleyball tournament in Orlando in late June. Carroll, who will be a sophomore at Carmel High School in August, was selected as an All-American.
The 5-foot-10 Carroll played right-side hitter for the Boilers Junior this past season.
Carroll said she has made the most improvement on the back row defense.
“I used to be a middle (blocker), so I never really played back row before,” she said. “I kind of got thrown back there, but I did pretty well.”
Carroll switched to the right side during the 2021 season. She played some middle blocker this year because of injuries.
“I kind of played every position this year and got moved around,” she said.
Carroll is joined on the team by Westfield High School’s Stella Terpening, a middle blocker.
Carroll has been playing with the Boilers Juniors since she was 12 years old. The Boilers Juniors finished second in the USA Girls National Volleyball Tournament in Indianapolis in 2019.
The team, which is part of The Academy Volleyball Club, practices in Lafayette.
Carroll played outside hitter on CHS junior varsity team last season. She said she wants to work on being more of a vocal leader this season.
Carroll, who started playing volleyball when she was 11 years old, participated in soccer and swimming when she was younger.
